Mysterious Roman object on display

Chris Schubert

2 years ago

The learning team are very excited about a new, temporary, addition to the Roman displays at Lincoln Museum. The unexplained object has been the talk of the country for the last few weeks, puzzling scientists, historians and visitors alike.

Thought to date from the third or fourth century, the copper alloy, 12-sided object was found during an amateur archaeological ‘dig’ in Norton Disney near Lincoln, in summer 2023.

It is one of only 33 such dodecahedrons found in Britain, and the first to have been found in the Midlands. It is also one of the largest examples to be found, measuring around 8cm tall and weighing 245g.

Where most other examples are found damaged, or as fragments, the Norton Disney dodecahedron is complete and in remarkable condition after 1,700 years of being buried.

The purpose of these mysterious objects has been lost in the mists of time, as there are no references to them in Roman texts or depictions of them.

If you already have a visit booked with us this Summer we will be able to show it to your groups during your Museum Investigation session.

If you aren’t able to visit us whilst the dodecahedron is on display why not incorporate it into one of your lessons at school?

You could investigate dodecahedrons and other 3D shapes in your geometry lessons. Dodecahedrons, along with tetrahedrons, cubes, octahedrons, and icosahedrons are known as the 5 platonic solids (no, we hadn’t heard of some of these before either!). Perhaps you could set a challenge to build 3D models of the different shapes.

Or you could hold a class debate for different theories of what the objects might have been used for. Some suggestions have been a tool for glove making, a child’s shape sorting toy or a dog’s treat dispensing toy. What ideas can your class come up with?

The dodecahedron will be on display at Lincoln Museum until early September 2024 and admission is free.